


How Poetic

by POTFFAN



Category: Prospect (2018)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Disability, Family Feels, Gen, Healing, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, Pedro being a good space dad to a space orphan yet again, Post Movie, Post-Canon, Whump, ezra whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27447994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/POTFFAN/pseuds/POTFFAN
Summary: With no auralac, a busted down ship, a missing arm and no options, Ezra and Cee flee The Green and are left to pick up the pieces.In short, my take on what happens after the movie ended.
Comments: 74
Kudos: 76





	1. Fleeing the Green

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm excited to post this. This is my first story for this particular fandom but it's one of my favorite films. It was also a nice distraction from ripping out my hair as I agonize over how to make my Fire Meets Gasoline series better and more appealing (IYKYK). Anyways this was a beautiful joint effort from my writing partner in crime itsagoodthing and I'm so pleased to share it. Enjoy and let us know what you think in the comments!

It was over. Somehow, against all odds, both orphan and prospector had escaped The Green and honestly, Cee had no idea how they pulled it off except for the fact that Ezra had come through with his promise to get her home. The man in question didn’t sound like he was doing well as he stumbled up the ship’s ramp, leaning heavily against her.

“Easy, Ezra. Almost there,” she reassured. She would have to work quickly to get his suit off once they got inside. She wouldn’t be able to breathe easy until they had officially caught the slingback but judging by her chronometer, they were going to make it. Once inside, she braced Ezra against the wall. He was still dazed and out of it as he squeezed his eyes shut. He hadn’t spoken since he’d told her to run and it was starting to frighten her.

Quickly she took his helmet off and left it carelessly on the floor as she went for the rest of his suit. She was careful pulling the suit off around his torso, taking extra care not to disturb the foam in his wound that was currently keeping him from bleeding out before getting the rest of the suit off. Then, with every last bit of her strength, she hauled him back to his feet and dragged him to the co-pilot’s seat. He was getting heavier as his energy was slowly draining away. At last with a huff, she got to the chair and did her best not to just dump him carelessly in it. Without hesitating she started to strap him in, being careful of his chest. She noticed his eyes were open and he was staring at her with the same spaced-out look he had when she came back for him. _Must be from the toxic air_ , she thought as she continues to do the straps. She wished he would say something, anything to let her know he wasn’t on his way out. She decided to try.

“Ezra? You alright?” she asked softly. 

He shook his head at her. The simple motion looked like it took everything he’s got just to pull it off. She fed the straps into the buckle and his hand grabbed her wrist on the sharp snap it made.

She looked back at him and he told her, “Cee, no. You need to go.” His voice was weak and wheezing like he was still struggling for air.

Cee hesitated and then her hand settled over the one he had gripping her arm, “It’s okay, Ezra. We’re in the ship.” He squinted at her with a look that told her he wasn’t processing what she was saying. She patted his hand. “We made it. We’re getting out of here.”

He didn’t say anything, just closed his eyes, and Cee swallowed nervously as she gently disengaged his grip from her wrist. His breath was coming in weak shaky gasps as sweat rolled down his face and neck. He looked sick and somehow worse than he did before she amputated his arm. She had no idea the toxins had messed with his head so badly. He was so confused and out it of she knew nothing she said would get through to him right now. She just needed to focus on getting them home before it was too late. She patted Ezra’s good shoulder reassuringly before shedding her space suite in record time.

Buckling herself into her own seat, she began the take-off procedure, thankful that it was similar to her father’s ship. Within a few minutes, the ship started to tremble and rumble as it slowly lifted towards the sky. Cee checked her watch; they were just going to make it by the seat of their pants.

“We made it Ezra,” she announced again, wishing he would answer. Looking to her side, she saw he was unconscious with his head lolling to one side.Fear gripped her heart because right this very minute he looked dead and she would have no way of determining otherwise until they had caught the slingback and reconnected with the main freighter back to the center territories. That gave her about fifteen minutes before she could check on the status of her companion. Her gaze shifted from the silent prospector to the view of the looming moon outside. She could just see the curve of the planet beyond and she sighed with relief. They were really going home. The events of the last few days replayed in her head. In that time frame, she’d lost her father, amputated an arm, and very nearly gotten killed or stranded on The Green.

She snuck another glance at Ezra. He’d proven unpredictable and ruthless, but loyal and kind to her. He could have just as easily traded her to the Saters but instead, he’d lost his arm, his dominant arm in fact. Then, when it came down to the wire, he’d nearly killed himself trying to protect her. She was going to return the favor and get him help if it took every bit of resources she had left.

The second their little ship was connected to the main freighter and heading back to the Center, she threw off her harness and raced to Ezra’s side. To her relief, his chest was rising and falling shallowly with his weak breaths, but he was still unconscious and paler than ever. She was careful as she peeled back the torn area of his shirt and checked the foam in his chest. Touching it with a delicate touch, she looked at where it met his skin, looking for leaks. It was still holding; no fresh blood. Closing her eyes, she smiled in relief. _Small miracles_. The thought floated through her mind. According to her father, it was one of her mother’s common phrases. She liked to think every time she used it she was in tune with a part of her mother she could never remember.

Looking the prospector over, she found it odd how invested she had become in his survival. After all, he did kill her father. Then again, Cee thought to herself, the man easily had it coming. Everyone knew how it worked in the prospecting world. The unspoken code of ethics and what happened to those who blatantly stomped on those ethics. Granted, Ezra had admitted to breaking those codes many times. And, to be fair to her dead father, he was what had, in a way, forced her father’s hand to go to take such drastic measures of his own. Since then, Cee had come to realize that’s how it was in the prospecting world. It was raw and gritty and unkind.

Looking at Ezra now, she used her sleeve to wipe away the sweat beading on his brow. She touched her fingers to his neck and counted. He was in trouble, there was no question about that. But he was hanging on, just like the stubborn son of a bitch she was realizing he was. He would make it. He had to.

Whether or not she wanted to admit it, at that moment, he was pretty much all she had. He’d saved her twice now, lost an arm for her, and didn’t ask her to help him after being stabbed in the chest, just pushed her away, tried to get her to leave him to get to the ship and get off The Green. Cee hoped if Ezra gave all that just to protect her, maybe he wouldn’t mind if she hung around after the dust settled and life went on.

“Alright,” Cee told the guy she had assigned herself to, “time to find out where you came from,” she muttered to herself as she started to go through his pockets. When she didn’t find anything she moved to where his spacesuit lay on the floor. She searched through the pockets until she found a sigil on a chain in the breast pocket of his suit.

_Blackstar Prospecting Guild_ , she read to herself. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember why. Tucking the sigil in her pocket, she knelt by the pile that was her discarded space suit and found her backpack, thankful that she’d thought to bring her father’s warn out prospecting manual with her. If this BlackStar Prospecting Guild was registered and not some shady illegal operation it would be listed along with the other Prospecting guilds. Although, given Ezra’s shady and dubious behavior, she wouldn’t put it past him to be part of something under the radar. She also wouldn’t put it past him to have stolen the sigil from another prospector he dismembered. Ezra said he was a killer. A pained groan shook her out of her reverie. The man in that chair might have been a killer before, but he was most certainly not now. She turned her attention back to the manual and flipped to the directory in the back. Using her finger as a guide, she skimmed down the alphabetically ordered list. She found it halfway down the second page:

_Blackstar Prospecting: Central_

That’s where she’d hear it. Once, a long time ago when her mother was alive, her family had visited Central. Her father had talked big about how they were going to live there one day. He had such ridiculous dreams. In Central, residents were divided into those who were and those who were not. Those who were made up the political and aristocratical factions; people with more money and power than they knew what to do with. Those who were not, well, they were people like Ezra and her father; just barely scraping the boards looking for their next paycheck. If Ezra did indeed work for this guild, there was a good chance they would handle his medical expenses, maybe even get him a prosthetic arm. It was definitely worth a shot looking into the matter. She more than owed it to him.

Straightening, she walked over to the prone figure in the chair. She found herself checking his pulse again, relieved to find a rapid and faint one. He just had to hang on until they got back to Central and in the care of medical professionals. She sat back in her seat and programmed their coordinates for Central. As soon as they detached from the main freighter it would be a mad dash to get there.

***************

An electric beeping woke Cee out of a sound sleep. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and glanced at her surroundings. Her sleep had been so heavy it was difficult to piece together the last few hours, sorting dream from reality.

“Craft FM-48, destination Central, you’re cleared for detachment,”a gruff male voice crackled over the static of the ship's radio. Ah, yes. She was headed to Central in an attempt to save Ezra’s life.

She pressed a faded red button on the ship’s communication panel. “Copy that,” she replied. That’s how communication was out in space. Short and to the point.

“Detaching in T-minus 2 minutes,” the voice announced again.

Cee was calm and collected as she strapped herself in. She’d detached hundreds of times and watched her father conduct the process again and again. This time would be no different and she was more than capable to do it on her own. She wished Ezra was awake just in case though.

“FM-84, detaching now.” Cee braced herself as a loud clang echoed through the hull of the ship and it started to shake and shudder. She squeezed her eyes shut. She always hated this part as there was a tiny fear in her mind that something would go wrong and the ship would be blown to bits. Today, however, the ship detached from the main freighter with no problems, and the second they were free, Cee kicked in the ship's automatic navigation and began their trek to Central. They would be there in a few hours. Ezra just had to hang on until then. She decided to catch a little more sleep until then. Who knows what was going to happen when they reached Central.

*****************

Cee slept the entire ride, blissfully unaware of the journey with the injured stranger. She dreamt of her mother. She did that from time to time. Her father was never in her dreams though. For whatever reason, he was not associated with the good things that were permitted to be in her dreams. No, her dreams were made up of _The Streamer Girl_ and her mother.

“Craft FM-84 you are approaching the main dock a Central please confirm.” A gruff voice over the radio jarred her out of sleep. She was awake in a moment as they neared their destination and once again pressed the comm button.

“This is Craft FM-84. Landing destination confirmed. We need a medical crew standing by. One of the passengers is in critical condition,” she said over the radio. There was a brief pause on the other end.

“Copy that. A medical crew will be standing by,” the voice confirmed.

Cee glanced over at Ezra. He was still in the same spot he’d been since they boarded the ship. He looked paler than ever. His breath was coming in weak, shuddering gasps and his pulse was still faint and stuttering. It never occurred to her that the blade he’d been stabbed with had nicked his heart or lungs. She hoped that they weren’t too late and that the doctors in Central could help.

True to their word, a crew was waiting for them when the ship finally settled on the launch pad. The sun was blinding after spending so many hours in the dark cockpit in deep space as Cee climbed out of the ship onto the bright tarmac. She could only watch numbly as the medics stormed into the hull of the ship and return several minutes later with a limp Ezra on a stretcher. She felt lost and everything seemed so large at the moment. This part of the world was not kind to people like her. A man in a white coat walked up beside her and she assumed he was the doctor.

“He’s going to be just fine, you know.” Cee turned to look at the man who just spoke. His voice was full of genuine kindness. “We’ll take care of him.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Now, come with me. It’s just a short shuttle ride to the Central medical facility,” he said and Cee felt herself relax a little. The crew loaded Ezra into the waiting shuttle and once Cee had boarded with the doctor, the shuttle took off. She watched as Ezra laid limply and the doctor and medics started to assess his condition. He looked dead and she couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault. She could have gotten him out of there faster. She should have held that woman down back on the Green and he might not have been hurt in the first place.

Upon arriving at the medical facility, Cee followed the doctor and the crew as they carried the unconscious Ezra to an exam room. She was determined not to leave his side. The doctor didn’t seem to mind her quiet presence as he focused on examining the injured man before him, paying extra attention to the wound on his chest, and his obvious missing right arm. When he was satisfied, he straightened and turned to Cee.

“Alright, he’s had some internal trauma to the chest cavity but thankfully no damage to the heart or lungs. Of course, there is also the small matter of his arm. We’ll get him on some oxygen and fluids to help flush his system of the toxic air before we work on him.”

“Wait what? He needs help now!” Cee protested. “He’s got a hole in his chest!”

“I know. But he’s not stable. What he was exposed to on the Green was dangerous and if we operate now while his levels are so unstable it could kill him. I promise as soon as his system has been flushed, we will patch him up as good as new. Now, if you’d like to wait outside, we will call you when he’s settled.”

Cee nodded numbly as she left the exam room.

***************

Ezra drug his eyes open. It was dark and his vision was so blurry he couldn’t make sense of where he was. He was vaguely aware of something running under his nose, forcing cold air into his body. Tubes and wires were attached to his chest and running from his arms. Memories ran together in his mind. The last thing he clearly remembered was feeling cold, leaning against a tree with the inability to breathe, and a stabbing pain in his chest. He also remembered watching Cee running away from him, and a pain deep inside his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries ripped straight through him. He looked around the dark room. Then how in the hell did he end up here? He moved to sit up and the pain returned swiftly and fiercely. It was enough to make him cry out softly as he pressed back against the bed. Sweat broke out over his skin and he felt like he was going to puke. He tried to roll over onto his right side, thinking he was going to push himself up. That was all it took for pure agony to spark and explode through what remained of his arm. Oh yeah, his arm was gone. His dominant hand, gone.

Ezra slapped his hand over the bandages covering the amputated end cried out again. He felt so alone. Curling in on himself worsened the pain coursing through his stab wound and he thinks it’s the worse he has ever hurt in his entire life. He’d lived a _rough_ life, so that was really saying something. He could barely breathe. Had it been that hard to breathe the whole time and he was just noticing?

Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes as he clenched them shut, growling through the pain. Hands landed on his uninjured side, trying to press him back to the mattress. Being touched made him lash out and shove the owner away. They tried again and he growled out an insult in some other language from The Green that had rolled through his confused brain. The hands were back on his face this time but and he gripped their wrist. He started to throw them off, but with the soothing tone they spoke to him with and how gentle their touch was, he started to think that maybe whoever had captured him wasn’t hostile after all. Blinking, he struggled through the fog in his mind to decipher the words being spoken to him.

“It’s alright, Ezra. It’s alright,” a voice said gently. He recognized that voice. For some reason unknown to him, it filled him with a little reassurance. He didn’t fail. For once in his life, he’d done something right. He’d gotten her off that rock. What was even more astonishing to him was how she had stayed. She was still there with him. The little bird that had shown more guts than all the men he’d worked with over the years, was right there with him. She’d stayed. He couldn’t stop thinking that as he clung to it, letting it replace the thought that he was alone. She’d stayed with him.

“Cee?” he murmured. Releasing her wrist, he reached out toward her. His vision was still a bit blurry but it was undeniably her standing beside him, capturing his hand in both of hers. She had a look on her face, could it have been worry? He couldn’t quite make it out.

“It’s me, Ezra. I’m here. You’re gonna be okay,” Cee tried to assure the man suffering in the bed. He was looking at her like she was a hallucination, but at least he was calming down. The pain etched into his features was just as easy to pick out as the confusion, and she knew he needed to calm down before the hurt would fade. They’d just given him pain medicine a couple of hours ago. He wouldn’t be getting any more for another few hours, so swallowing down the nerves clogging up her throat and making her feel wired and shaky, she eased herself to sit beside him on the side of the bed.

Holding his hand, she patted it, saying, “Everything’s gonna be okay. Try to relax, okay? We’re okay.”

Blinking at her, Ezra couldn’t push past all the confusion clouding his thoughts. Squinting, he croaked, “Did we miss our ride?”

She smiled at that, “No, Ezra. We’re off The Green.” Reaching out she grabbed a cup of water off the counter by the bed. She passed it over and he took it in his hand. When he was finished, he passed it back, asking, “Where then?”

“Central.”

“What are we doing here?” he queried.

“Found your prospecting tags and your guild is here. I figured that was our best option given that we really don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“We?”

“I wasn’t going to leave you there to die, Ezra. You got me off the Green and you weren’t going to make it here alone.”

Ezra was silent for a moment, mulling over the actions of his young traveling companion. Never once had someone made sacrifices for him. He was so use to flying solo he was stunned by this act of selflessness. Self-preservation. That’s what he’d always lived by. It had gotten him this far in life and yet, in the end, it was Cee’s loyalty that had saved him. That thought was humbling. It was dulling the physical pain that had been coursing through his body since he’d awoken. Then a sudden thought struck him.

“I hope that I do not sound ungrateful, Little Bird, but we were unsuccessful in ravaging the Queen’s Lair. I’m afraid that my pockets are indeed a little light. I’m afraid I don’t have the funds for these medical bills.” 

Cee patted his hand reassuringly. “I’ve gotten that all worked out,” she said with a grin. “Your guild is going to pay for medical procedures. Everything is taken care of. It won’t cost you a dime.”

Ezra’s brow furrowed for a moment as his gaze searched the young girl’s expression. “I was unaware that Ol’ Mordecai was so benevolent,” he rasped.

Before Cee could answer, the doctor came in. “He’s been on the fluids for an hour now. I want to come check on him,” he said before looking over Ezra’s vitals and checking his pulse, and pupil reaction. He then turned to Cee. “He’s stable. I’ll go ahead and administer the anesthetic. We’re going to ease him into it to avoid shock and any lingering side effects from the dust. Typically patients go under in under seconds. He’ll take a bit longer.”

“O-ok,” Cee murmured.

She couldn’t help feel a touch of nervousness as the doctor readied the syringe and moved to Ezra’s bedside. Ezra must have felt it took because she could see a hint of fear in his eyes. She’d seen it before, back on the Green when the female merc had switched off his filter and let him feel the crushing suffocation of the Green’s toxic air.

“You ready, Ezra?” The doctor asked kindly and the prospector gave him a curt nod. “Alright. Anesthetic is going in now. Just relax and don’t fight it.”

Ezra’s gaze shifted to Cee as he forced himself not to panic. He could see the nervousness in her expression. He stretched out his hand slightly and she took it, squeezing gently to reassure him that she was there. Both were frightened and unsure of the road ahead, but both also knew they had to be strong for the other. They’d survived worse things and they would get through this now.

“Relax, Ezra. You’ve got to relax. Don’t fight it,” the doctor warned, noting that the injured man was currently trying to fight off the effects of the medication. The truth was, Ezra wasn’t afraid of being operated on as much as he was of waking up to the loneliness. Since Cee had come into his life and changed it, he found himself fearful that she would leave him behind. She indeed had every right to. He felt a gentle squeeze on his hand and he found himself struggling to look at her again.

“It’s alright, Ezra. I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise,” Cee reassured. That was enough for him.

Ezra slipped away quietly without any more fuss and once he was completely under, the doctor wheeled him away to the OR, leaving Cee to her own devices. Checking her chronometer she figured she’d have a few hours at least. There was something that had to be done as she grabbed her bag and navigated her way out of the hospital.

As she entered the bright, sun-lit atmosphere of Central, she pulled the prospecting handbook from her pack and flipped to the directory once more. Ezra’s mining guild was here, and she was determined to find it. Confidently, she set off down the street.


	2. The Streamer Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cee strikes a bargain with the prospectors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! I'm quite surprised at how much attention this fic has gotten and it's really brightened up my day! I apologize for getting this chapter done so late. Got side-tracked with a few other things and then of course I'm currently battling Covid. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Finding the mining guild was easier said than done. It had been a very long time since Cee had been to Central and she forgot what a vast and sprawling city it was. She also forgot how the people of Central chose to fraternize only with members of their own social class. So to the rich and powerful of Central, Cee was nothing more than a roach on the side of the road that was meant to be ignored. She was getting lost and frustrated when she nearly tripped over the outstretched legs of a homeless beggar who was sitting in the street.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there,” she apologized quickly.

“That’s quite alright, dear. You seem lost,” the ragged man said kindly. It was the second kind voice she’d heard since she arrived in Central.

“I think I am,” she admitted. “I’m looking for Black Star Prospecting Guild.”

“Gracious, girl,” the beggar exclaimed. “Why would the likes of you want to go to a place like that?”

“My f-“ she stopped herself from saying "father". She wasn’t quite there yet. “Friend. He works there. He was badly injured on the job and I’m reporting for him instead.”

“Mighty great friend you are,” he hummed. “If you follow this street all the way down and take a left you’ll find it. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you so much, Sir. I appreciate it,” Cee said gratefully as she scampered off in the direction prescribed to her.

The beggar was right; down the street and then a left and she came face to face with a towering building. Perhaps it was just her overactive imagination, but Cee swore the guild headquarters looked gloomy and foreboding. For a moment, she got cold feet and wanted nothing more than to run back to Ezra’s side. But Ezra couldn’t do anything for her right now. He was currently lying on an operating table, counting on her to take care of this. He risked everything to get her back to civilization and she owed it to him to see this through. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the doors and found herself in a massive dining hall. Men of all shapes and sizes were sitting at tables scattered about the room chatting and drinking strong ale from large steins. The air stank of sweat and grime and it was enough to make her gag. As if her small presence suddenly split open the air, every head in the room turned to face her and the chatter cut off immediately. Cee swallowed her fear.

“I’m here to see your boss.” She forced her voice to be calm and steady. It was quiet for a moment.

“That would be me, little one,” a large, burly man chortled. His skin was dark and a mess of thick curly hair sat atop his head. He scanned her with his dark eyes. “Now what has made you wander so far from home to come see ol’ Mordecai?”

“My friend, Ezra works for you.”

“Ah! Ezra! Sent him to The Green months ago. I thought he might have finally kicked the bucket. Perhaps his mouth finally landed him a shot right between the eyes.”

“He’s back here in Central.”

“He’s back! Well, I’m mighty impressed. Is that why you’re here? Did he come back empty-handed and he had to send his child proxy to account for his failures?”

The entire hall broke out into laughter and Cee’s fists curled as the image of Ezra, choking on the toxic air with a hole in his chest after he risked everything to get her home flashed in her mind. She wasn’t going to fail.

“He had the auralac, but he lost it trying to get me home. My father was killed on The Green and I would have been stuck there if it wasn’t for Ezra. He was gravely injured.”

“Well let that be a lesson to all of you!” Mordecai bellowed. “Compassion gets you killed when you’re a prospector!”

“We need help with his medical expenses,” Cee interjected, feeling more and more irritated with this man the longer the conversation went on.

Mordecai busted out in raucous laughter that vibrated through the air. Cee felt the color rush into her ears. “And what makes you think I would do something like that?”

“Because Ezra and I found the Queen’s Lair.”

Everything went silent again. The weathered prospector looked at her, studying her face for any sign of falsehood or deception. “The Queen’s Lair is just a myth, Girl.”

“It’s not. We found it,” Cee retorted. “I have the map and the coordinates. All I need is a prospector. You pay for Ezra’s medical expenses, and we’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.”

“How do I know you aren’t pulling my leg girl?”

“How do I know you’re going to take my information and send somebody else after it?”

“Fair enough.” Mordecai thought for a moment as he scratched at the stubble on his cheek. “Tell you what. I’ll take care of Ezra’s medical expenses, I’ll send the money straight to the medic just in case you’re trying to gyp me. I return, he will go and fetch the Queen’s Lair for me. Consider his medical expenses his cut.”

“But that’s not fair!”

“Take it or leave it, girl. I suggest that you do,” he paused thoughtfully and gave her a wicked grin. “And I suggest that you take it. Imagine poor Ezra, abandoned on the street, in pain with no medicine or anything else he needs.”

Cee’s felt rage boiling in her veins. This man was completely taking advantage of them, but they had no choice. Ezra would die on the streets without medical attention. They would have nothing to live on if they completed the job and gave every last bit of auralac to Mordecai. Life was going to be hard either way, but for now, just getting Ezra squared away was the top priority. They would figure the rest out later.

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” she said flatly.

“Excellent! Now, return to our friend Ezra and tell him I wish him a speedy recovery. I’ll be expecting him back here when he’s recovered. Oh! And girl, you can tell him, that if he tries to back out of this deal, I will hunt him down and kill him like the dog that he is.”

His voice was severe and Cee fought a shiver that traveled up her spine. Not trusting herself to speak anymore, she nodded and left the hall, Mordecai’s bellowing laugh chasing her out. Checking her chronometer, she felt like enough time had passed and she headed back to the hospital, hoping that Ezra might be out of surgery. She was becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer size of Central and she yearned for a familiar face.

***************

“So, it went well?” Cee asked the doctor, who had called her back a few minutes after she arrived.

“I confess it was touch and go for a bit. His system wasn’t quite clear of the Dust as we thought. He’s very sick. Ideally, we would like to wait to attach the prosthetic but given we are replacing a sizable portion of the limb as soon as it’s ready we’ll begin the procedure.”

“How much longer until he gets his new arm?” Cee asked, jogging a little to keep up with the doctor who was moving at a swift pace.

“A few hours. We’re making the final adjustments now.” The doctor stopped in front of the door. “Here we are.” Opening it, he allowed her to enter first before following.

Cee stopped for a moment, allowing herself to get used to the sight of Ezra lying still and silent in the bed. It was such a stark contrast to how he usually was.

“He’ll probably sleep off the effects of the anesthetic for a while. I’ll leave you be for now. If you need anything don’t hesitate to give me a buzz.”

The doctor left the room and Cee’s eyes never left Ezra. He looked better, a little less ashy. She had to admit the bandage on his chest that covered where the surgeons had operated looked a lot less scary than the foam they used in the field. There was something more reassuring about the equipment used by doctors than what was given to prospectors before they embarked. What remained of his arm was wrapped in clean, white bandages as well. She had to admit that part of him still frightened her, but she was relieved to know that at that minute, a new arm was being formed for him. Ezra would be complete once more.

She didn’t know how long he would be unconscious so carefully, she crawled onto the foot of the bed and rested her back against the wall. She figured if their places were reversed, she would want someone familiar to wake up to. Sending another glance his way, she pulled her notebook out of her bag, figuring she would go back and review the scene she’d written a few days ago before all this madness began.

***************

When Ezra finally wakes, it isn’t calm and gentle like it should be. It’s violent and painful. Cee jumped off the foot of the bed to avoid his feet scraping against the mattress as his back arched slightly. He panted and groaned and she was afraid he was going to tear the stitches.

“Ezra! Ezra, it’s alright! It’s me!” she exclaimed, trying to break through the wall of drugs and pain.

“Cee, my fucking arm!” Ezra groaned trying to reach for his missing arm. “It-it hurts!”

“Ezra, it’s not there, remember? I had to amputate it on the Green. Please, please you have to calm down,” she found herself begging.

Ezra could hear the fear in her voice so he forced himself to contain the pain he was in. He gripped the blanket beneath him as he panted, trying to get himself under control. He squeezed his eyes shut and his hand fumbled to his damaged shoulder as if he was trying to hold himself together. He felt a shy hand brush his bangs almost hesitantly off his forehead before retreating.

“Ezra?” Cee said his name gently, cautiously. “Just breathe. Breathe ok?”

“Not fair,” he ground out as he opened his eyes, taking in a few deep breaths through his nose.

“What?” A breathy laugh escaped his throat though it was masked in pain.

“Shouldn’t be able to feel it if it isn’t there,” Ezra groaned.

“I’m sorry.” This is all my fault. I probably did it wrong or something-“

“Hey!” Cee felt a shaky hand on her arm and she looked at him. “This is not your fault. It’s mine. You did everything you were supposed to.” Cee nodded, but he could tell she still seemed unsure. “Hey, I’m really glad you’re here, Little Bird. Makes wakin’ up not so terrible.”

“Well, I couldn’t very well leave you here alone. It’s clear you wouldn’t make it without me,” Cee teased with a smirk and Ezra managed a smirk back.

“So tell me, did the doc find a way to perhaps make me a whole man again?”

Cee nodded. “They are making a prosthetic arm for you as we speak.”

“That’s gonna cost us a pretty penny, Little Bird; a pretty penny we don’t have.”

“Not to worry. The guild is covering all of it.”

“Mordecai really loosened up his pockets for the likes of me?”

“He considered it an investment,” Cee partially lied. “You were far too valuable to lose so he’s making sure you’ll be able to prospect again.”

“Well, ain’t that a mighty find incredulity,” Ezra muttered. “Nice to know my work is appreciated.” His eyes were drooping exhaustedly.

“You should sleep, Ezra,” Cee urged.

“Just woke up,” he gripped but he was already well on his way to letting the drugs pull him back under.

“I know, but your body is trying to heal. You’re sick. You need rest. I’ll stay here with you.” Ezra nodded and his body relaxed as he let himself drift off.

Cee sighed as she crawled back up to her place on the foot of the bed. She’d lied to him. Her mother had always taught her not to lie. But Ezra was still recovering and he didn’t need the added stress of what was to come down the road. It was going to be damn near impossible to find a lift back to The Green, then of course they were once again going to venture into the vast wild while trying to harvest every last gem of that auralac. She didn’t know much, but she was willing to bet that if Mordecai thought he was being swindled out of even one gem he would raise hell. Then, of course, there was the unending expanse that was their future with no money, home, or connections. There were too many questions without answers and she resolved that once Ezra was stronger and well on his way to being himself again she would tell him everything and together they might be able to come up with a solution.

******************

“Cee…” Cee looked up from her book and noticed Ezra’s face was pinched in pain and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. 

“Ezra? You alright?”

“Fu-fucking hurts,” he moaned as his breath stuttered.

She glanced nervously at the timer on the wall. He still had a good half hour before he could have another dose of painkillers. The doctor had warned that the lingering effects of the Dust would amplify his pain and screw with the painkillers. She figured he was feeling these symptoms now.

“The doctor will be in soon. Try to relax and take some slow breaths,” Cee encouraged as she reached over and took his hand in hers.

Ezra fought the urge to squeeze her hand. In his large grip, he would surely hurt her so instead he applied just a small amount of pressure to reassure her that he was there before shutting his eyes and trying to reign in the pain. It was thick and throbbing through his chest and arm it felt like he couldn’t breathe and it was making him panic.

“Ezra, please. Take a few deep breaths and relax.”

“Think you c-could read to me?”

“What?”

“Read to me fr-from that story you told-“ he cut off with an audible wince as his chest spasmed painfully and he had to take a minute to gather himself.

“The Streamer Girl?” Cee asked, finishing his train of thought so he didn’t have to vocalize it.

“Yeah.” He swallowed a few times before cracking his eyes open again. “Might aid in taking my mind off the pain.”

“Alright,” she conceded as she picked up her book that had been discarded in the chaos. “This isn’t the original version though. I lost mine a long time ago. This is the version I wrote from memory.”

“Then I-I think I’ll like it a-all the more,” Ezra gasped, letting his eyes close so he could focus on Cee’s voice.

Cee cleared her throat as she flipped to the first page and plunged into the narrative, weaving a tapestry that was one part the original text that she wrote from memory and one part her own scenes that she wove in. Shyness was creeping in as she read and for a moment she wanted to stop, but she heard Ezra’s raspy, frantic breathing slow into something calm and slow. Whatever she was doing was working so she continued until Ezra dropped off to sleep once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Look out for more soon! As always, please rate and review! :)


	3. Bad Deals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra becomes whole again and Cee gets her first lesson of the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm so overwhelmed by how much y'all are loving this fic. It's getting more and more fun to write. This story will end in the next chapter however this is going to be a series so prepare for a lot more Ezra and Cee. I do so enjoy writing them. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Truth be told, Cee hadn’t spent much time in a hospital. Her mother got sick and passed away so quickly there was hardly time to be in a hospital anyway. So when Cee found herself sitting beside Ezra in the operating theater, it felt like a strange and terrifying new world.

The man in question was lying on the operating table with a screen hanging vertically to cover his right shoulder and block the surgeons and their work from his view. Because the doctors were still trying to flush the Dust from his body, they elected to keep him on a local anesthetic and light sedative while they worked to attach his prosthetic arm. He was sleeping for now and only stirred when the surgeons did something particularly invasive. An oxygen mask and electrodes attached to his chest mapping out his heartbeat completed the ensemble and Cee had to admit she was a bit frightened by his current appearance.

But he was going to have both arms again. All this pain and fear would finally be worth it.

The hand she was holding twitched in her grip as he flinched and she saw his brows pull together. A soft groan left his lips. The surgeons seemed unfazed by his movements and continued to work carefully, not even bothering to speak. Cee took it upon herself to rub his good arm comfortingly. His eyes flickered open and for a moment she held her breath, worried that he might react negatively.

“It’s alright, Ezra. It’s alright,” she soothed.

Thankfully the drugs in his system were strong and he stared at her with a hazy, unfocused look before his eyelids drooped closed and he drifted off again. Cee sighed with relief and the procedure went on as she continued to cling to his hand.

****************

A humming numbness flowed through his body. He felt so good and warm like he was floating in a hot spring. He couldn’t remember a time when he felt so comfortable. There was a rapid beeping coming from somewhere beside him and his brow furrowed. What dared to disrupt his floating?

“Ezra? Take a couple of deep breaths for me.” There was a soft feminine voice urging him gently. While it didn’t belong to anyone he knew, it made him feel warm and safe.

“Is he alright?” Now he definitely knew that voice. It belonged to a shock of messy, short, blond hair and bright blue eyes.

“He is. Extra oxygen will help cut the effects of the sedative and clear his airway,” the warm voice replied. _Airway?_ Ezra slowly became aware of a rush of cold air under his nose as the beeping continued.

“Can you breathe, Ezra?” The familiar voice prompted. He’d been meaning to get to that but his brain felt sticky and everything was moving in slow motion. He started pulling in deep breaths through his nose, feeling the numbness start to ebb away. His mind was becoming more clear and functioning was a little easier now.

“That’s it, Ezra. That’s good,” the warm voice praised as the beeping stopped.

Everything was coming back online and gradually he was regaining some feeling in his extremities. He scrunched his toes and his fingers grabbed slightly at the bedsheets beneath him. Suddenly it dawned on him. He was feeling the softness of the sheets beneath his fingers on his right hand; the hand that had been lost. Surely this couldn’t be true. That arm was abandoned somewhere on The Green. He wiggled his fingers, testing them hoping that this wasn’t a symptom of the phantom pain he was experiencing earlier. A small hand grabbed his and he gripped it, feeling the skin to skin contact. If this was a drug-induced trick it was a damn convincing one. Cautiously he peeled his eyes open and blinked, trying to clear his blurry vision. A nurse was standing over his bed, monitoring his vitals. Cee was next to him giving him an encouraging look as his brain started to flicker and memories filtered back in.

“My hand?” He rasped, wincing when his dry throat scraped painfully.

“Yeah. You got a prosthetic one, remember?” She reminded gently and he nodded.

“F-feels strange.” The nurse appeared in his line of view with a cup of water. He never even noticed when she left his bedside.

“Here, drink this. It’ll help your throat,” she urged kindly. Ah, so the warm voice belonged to her.

Out of pure habit, Ezra reached for the cup with his right hand, the new one, and his fingers bumped into it clumsily and he tried to grasp it. Color flushed his face as he tried to grab it again and nearly knocked it out of the nurse’s hand. With an impatient growl, he grabbed it with his left hand and downed the water.

“It’s alright, Ezra. You’ll need some physical therapy and a little practice to get used to the prosthetic but you’ll get the hang of it in no time,” she reassured as she took the cup from Ezra.

A nervous twinge ran down Cee’s spine as she looked at the nurse. “How long will that take?”

“Shouldn’t take long. We’ll work with him and it should only take a week or two to master basic functionality.”

“What-what about something more challenging like prospecting?”

“Tasks that require more advanced motor skills will require more time. It takes prospectors a long time to master their professions and he’ll be essentially learning it all over again. It’ll take some time and practice.”

Cee gulped nervously and watched as the nurse left the room. This decidedly wasn’t good at all. Judging by their conversation and tone, Mordecai was most likely going to be unhappy waiting a week or two for Ezra to get used to using his arm and hand again let alone months for him to get the hang of prospecting for Auralac. Auralac harvesting required a steady hand, something that took only the best prospectors years to master. Her father, who had been doing it since he was in his twenties, was barely adequate. Ezra was in trouble. She was in trouble. If they couldn’t harvest the Auralac Mordecai would surely kill them both.

Ezra noticed the girl who was sitting on the edge of his bed had a look of deep concern on her face as she stared off into the middle distance, obviously lost in thought. She was picking at the blanket nervously and seemed to be in distress. He reached over and his new hand bumped clumsily to hers and he took it in his uncoordinated grip.

“It’s alright, Little Bird. I won’t need to go prospecting for awhile. We’ll find a suitable solution to our financial situation while I recuperate. Perhaps Mordecai might be inclined to let us bunk at the guild since he’s found me to be such an asset.”

Tears welled up in Cee’s eyes at his words. She shouldn’t have lied to him. Quickly she tried to brush them away but it was too late. Ezra had already spotted them.

“Now now, Little Bird. Whatever is the matter?”

“Oh, Ezra-“ Cee sobbed. Ezra grew very concerned and pushed himself up straighter in the bed.

“Cee? What’s wrong?” Worry creased his brow.

“I-I messed up. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve put us in danger. I’m so sorry. I messed up.” Cee sobbed over and over again, growing borderline hysterical.

Ezra didn’t care how weak his body felt or how clumsy his movements with his new arm were as he forced himself up and wrapped Cee in a strong hug. “Hey, I’m alright, Cee. I’ll be right as rain soon. There’s nothing to fear.”

“Y-you don’t understand,” she hiccuped as she pushed out of Ezra’s arms. “I-I made a deal with Mordecai.”

Ezra’s stomach dropped. He’d worked with Mordecai since he was twelve. Nothing good ever came from those deals. “What kind of deal?”

“If he covered your medical expenses, including your new arm, we would bring back the Queen’s Lair for him.”

“Cee, you didn’t intend to lie to him did you?”

“No! I thought your arm would be good as new and you’d be ready to go! I didn’t think it would take months for you to be back to normal.” It was silent for a bit as tears poured down her face. She imagined Ezra was slowly filling with rage as he processed the predicament she’d put him in. The thought of angering the only connection she had in this entire universe frightened her more than anything she’d experience so far. Flashes of her last trip to The Green played in her mind. She’d accidentally spilled a little bit of her juice on her father’s map and he’d snapped at her. Damon always snapped and yelled when she did something wrong. Mistakes and accidents came at steep prices when life was as hard as theirs. She should have been smarter. She should have been more careful. Now Ezra was going to have to pay the price for her mistake.

“Please, please don’t be mad. I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this. I’ll figure out a way to fix this. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.

Suddenly Ezra wrapped her in a hug. She was startled for a moment but then buried her face against his chest as her sobs quieted down.

“It’s alright, Little Bird. You had to contend with more than anyone I’ve ever had acquaintance with. You got us here, you made sure I was taken care of. You have done nothing wrong. I swear to you as deeply as I swore to you in The Green, I will find a solution to this predicament. No harm will befall us, and you will not be left alone. I swear to you that now, Cee. You will never be alone.”

***************

Ezra took a deep breath, trying to quiet his nerves. He’d never been afraid of anything in his entire life. He’d seen things and done even more things that would forever quell that part of his brain. However, losing his arm had somewhat sapped a little of his confidence. He was still getting used to it; still adjusting. He wasn’t a complete man yet and it made him a touch uncertain of his abilities to get things done. The boss and men inside had been the only thing that resembled a family to him since he was thirteen. With a father who’d left before he was born and a mother and sister who had succumbed to influenza, _Black Star Prospecting_ seemed like a natural refuge for a kid with no connections or options. But now, they seemed like insurmountable obstacles that would surely spell out his doom.

Pushing open the door, he entered the hall. It seemed just as full as when he left. Did anyone actually do any work here? The chatter ceased so that the prospectors could assess the newcomers. A stout grubby man burst into joyous guffawing.

“Well, well, well! Look who it is! Ezra come back from the dead to see us!”

“That’ll do, Ishmael. Now, where’s Mordecai? I was informed that he was seeking an audience with me.”

“Yeah, he’s in his office,” Ishmael replied and Ezra nodded in gratitude before making his way to his employer’s office. He knew the way by heart. Just a few feet to the hall on the starboard side of the dining hall first left at the end of the hall then an immediate right to the office. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t knock. He had to do this for Cee.

“Mordecai, we need to talk,” Ezra announced as he burst into the office.

“Well! Look who’s here! And I was beginning to think you’d try to skip town and back out of our little deal.”

“Now about that little deal. You tricked that girl into making a bad deal and we want out.”

Mordecai laughed as he slapped his desk with his big fist. “Well you see now, that’s not how this works. You bought something and you have to pay for it now.”

“She was unaware of the implications of the pact you struck and you took advantage of her.”

“Then let this be her first lesson in the real world,” Mordecai shrugged.

“You won’t get away with this,” Ezra growled.

In a flash Mordecai stood and grabbed Ezra by the throat and squeezed, cutting off his air. Instinctively, Ezra tried to throw a right hook but he’d barely had his new arm for four days, not to mention the surgery site in his chest was still tender. Any other time he would have been able to knock Mordecai’s lights out but his movements were too clumsy and Mordecai caught his fist and slammed it onto the desk. A strangled groan escaped his lips.

“You forget that I keep track of my money and how it’s used. I know how utterly _useless_ you are now. Your little proxy failed to mention exactly how you were incapacitated,” Mordecai spat.

“I can’t-can’t prosp-“ Ezra’s words were cut off as Mordecai squeezed harder, cutting off his breath. He couldn’t draw in even a shallow gulp of air.

“I know you can’t. I know you’re going to fail me in every possible way just like you always have. You’re going to uphold your end of the deal and fetch me the fortune I was promised. And if The Green doesn’t kill you, I’ll get the pleasure of offing you myself. And your little girl.”

Mordecai grinned at the look of pure fear in Ezra’s eyes before he let him go. Ezra choked and gasped as he desperately sucked air into his starved lungs. His employer sat calmly down in his chair as if nothing had happened.

“You better figure out how to use that arm, Ezra, and bring me my money by the end of the month or I’ll kill the girl first.”

“It takes nearly two weeks just to get there,” Ezra wheezed in a raspy voice.

“Then you better catch a ride tonight. Now get out of my office and don’t come back unless you’ve got my money, or a pine box to put your body in,” Mordecai snarled.

Ezra knew there was no use arguing and he picked himself and his wounded pride up and stole out of the office and out of the guild.

***************

Cee waited nervously in the small dingy hotel room Ezra had charmed his way into. The owner owed him a favor. She was apprehensive about Ezra leaving against medical advice, but they agreed it was best to stop racking up debt with Mordecai. The doctor had sent them on their way with a small case full of painkillers. She’d been even more apprehensive about him going to see Mordecai and try to fix the mess she’d made. She could only hope that Ezra’s smooth-talking might get them out of their predicament.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her worried train of thoughts.

“Yes?”

“It’s me, Cee,” came Ezra’s tired voice and Cee ran to unlock the door and let him in.

“Well? What happened?”

“We’re leaving for The Green tonight. We’ve got until the end of this month to ravage the Queen’s Lair and bring the spoils back to Mordecai,” he replied as he sat on the edge of one of the twin beds and Cee’s shoulder’s sagged.

“Tonight? Ezra, you can barely grab a cup right now let alone harvest Auralac. We-we can’t do this!”

“We’re gonna have to. We have no choice,” Ezra replied as he grabbed the case of painkillers off of his nightstand and unlatched it. His chest was throbbing and there was discomfort where his flesh met the imitation skin of his prosthetic arm. Pulling out a syringe, he handed it to Cee. “Please. I’d do it but I don’t exactly trust my right hand yet.”

He held out his left arm for Cee to inject the painkillers into his vein just like the nurse had shown her back at the hospital. She mimicked the movements swiftly and the tension left Ezra’s body as the medication kicked in.

“Thank you,” he said as he swung his feet onto the bed and laid back against the pillows. “Get some rest, Little Bird. I’ve got an acquaintance who can take us to The Green. He is in debt to me and it will be no hassle on our part.” His eyes slipped closed.

Cee laid down in the other twin bed but she found her mind was too riled up to sleep. She didn’t think she’d dread going back to a place as much as she was currently dreading going back to The Green. It was a place that was filled with fear and death. She could only hope that this trip would be uneventful and that Ezra might be able to pull off a miracle. He did once before. Surely he could do it again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Let me know how you like the story down in the comments. Never fails to brighten my day :)


	4. Launch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cee and Ezra begin their journey to The Green and are joined by an unfortunate companion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I'm so sorry it took so long to get this out! Work has been a beast and the seasonal depression hit me really hard. It was a rough go of it for awhile but I'm back with a fresh new chapter! I hope you like it!

It was the dead middle of the night when Cee and Ezra rose and left their lodgings.Cee hadn’t slept a wink and had watched Ezra sleep restlessly while she tried to write, unsure if it was due to some pain the injection couldn’t quite quell or if anxiety over their current situation kept him from a deep, restorative sleep. Regardless, he rose and gathered his meager equipment he’d taken back from the Guild into a faded rucksack. 

“Time to go, Little Bird,” he said softly and she’d jumped up without hesitation, her book bag packed and ready to go and her spacesuit packed carefully into Ezra’s bag with their helmets as well. They’d been cleaned, repaired, and returned to them from the hospital before Ezra had been discharged.

It didn’t feel like the middle of the night as she walked alongside Ezra, shivering in the midnight air. Central never slept and people who didn’t have to get up and go to work the next day were partying, visiting clubs, or stumbling from one event to the next down the streets. Cee would never know a life like this, not in a million years. Neither would Ezra. People like them were destined to work hard all their lives and never have anything to show for it. Dust to dust.

Cee was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t see an elegantly dressed woman making her way down the street. Running smack into her, Cee heard the woman let out a startled “OH MY!” As she recoiled away from the unkept orphan. There was a repulsed look on her porcelain face as if she’d never seen something so dirty and ragged in her entire life. What caught Cee’s attention most was the gaudy necklace hanging around the woman’s neck. It was adorned with glistening pearls that almost looked like stars they shined so brightly and in the center, a large Auralac gem that was formed into a diamond shape and polished until it looked like glass. Auralac didn’t look like this until the prospectors successful enough to bring it back sold it to dealers who cut and shined it before selling it to the rich and famous. The shiny gem caught the light bouncing off of a nearby streetlamp and suddenly images of Ezra without his arm and a hole in his chest, sick and gasping flashed in her mind. Something that was fought over with blood, sweat, and tears, something that made many orphans, that had taken loved ones away from families, that had turned kind, hard-working men into ruthless killers was hanging around this woman’s neck as a symbol of status and luxury and not the blood that was spilled to harvest it.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and heard Ezra say “Apologies ma’am.” The images vanished in time for her to catch a look of disgust on the woman’s face as she sauntered away and Cee turned to look at Ezra. “It’s alright, Cee. Come on.”

With a wordless nod, she followed her companion away from the busier sections of Central to the darker, less populated area. Trust Ezra to have a contact in the seediest part of what was considered a clean, safe, upstanding society. He stopped and held up his hand, signaling her to freeze. They were standing in an empty launchpad that had once belonged to a carrier service that had long gone out of business, chased out by some larger, more successful company. Cee could see the ship waiting patiently for its passengers, its owner standing off to the side, but there were two other dark, shadowy figures standing in wait as well.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Ezra snarled and the hair on the back of Cee’s neck bristled when she heard a familiar laugh.

“You think I’m going to send you off on a treasure hunt without any kind of supervision?” Mordecai bellowed as he stepped into the grimy, dim light of a street lamp burning half-heartedly. His associate, a gaunt, pale-looking, and with scrappy facial hair sprawling across his cheeks and a large, jagged scar running across his eye joined him in the glow. “You remember Porter?”

Cee saw Ezra tremble visibly with rage as he clenched his fists. “He’s not coming.”

Mordecai gave them both an almost pitying look as he and Porter withdrew their pistols and aimed them at Cee. Ezra instinctively moved in front of her, shielding her with his body. “You don’t have a choice. So either you play nice with Porter and you have a lovely trip or I kill you and your girl right here and saw that arm right off you. I think it will do very nice in the underground markets. You aren’t the only prospector who’s lost their arm, and very few are lucky enough to have someone as benevolent as me to buy them a fancy new one.”

Ezra glared at the two men. He was a quick shot; there had been nothing but time and practice to develop that skill in his career, but he couldn’t use his dominant hand that well yet and even if he could kill at least one of them he was still running the risk that he’d be shot, leaving Cee alone or worse, she’d get caught in the crossfire. If it was even a slight chance that she would be harmed, Ezra wasn’t willing to take it. Reluctantly he took his hand off his hip where his pistol was strapped, not realizing until that moment that his hand had moved instinctively to that position. It was a tightly coiled reflex from years of being constantly shot at. He sneered at the two prospectors once more before he hitched his rucksack more securely on his shoulder and started for the pod.

“Come on, Cee. We’ve got a job to complete,” he muttered and she scrambled to keep up with his long strides, ignoring the sound of Porter’s long ones following them. Ezra stopped halfway up the ramp of the ship to turn to its owner, who Cee could now see was a thin, haggard man with a shaved head and dead-looking eyes. “Thanks for coming to our aid.” Ezra’s voice oozed with sarcasm.

“I didn’t come looking for trouble,” his gaunt companion replied in a deadpan voice. “Just here to give you a lift.”

Ezra huffed as he trudged the rest of the way up the ramp and made his way inside the small ship. With a grunt he let his rucksack slide off his shoulder onto the floor by the lockers, ignoring Porter as he boarded before the ramp pulled up and closed.

“Who is that?” Cee whispered to Ezra as the pilot walked past his newly acquired passengers to climb up to the cockpit.

Ezra gave her a shrug. “Dunno. I call him Number One,” he said before pulling out his spacesuit and helmet and hanging it in a locker so it could be easily reached in case of an emergency.

Cee did the same. This part seemed like second nature for her as she’d been on so many runs with her father by this point. When she first started traveling with him, he had to remind her quite often how to prepare for a trip. Most often these reminders were delivered in a short, exasperated tone. Now, she knew exactly what to do, and shortly her space gear was hung up neatly and essentials were packed into her backpack so she could have them for the trip. This included her typical list: headphones, a small tool pack, notebook and pencil, a couple of nutrition bars, and a tiny first aid kit. She added Ezra’s case of pain medication to the ensemble but not before cracking open the lid and checking its contents. There were seven syringes left. That would carry him through roughly halfway through their trip if he used them only when he really needed it and she could only hope he wouldn’t need to pop them often. Closing the lid, she shoved the case in her bag and zipped it up before getting to her feet and following the two men out of the loading zone into the residential portion of the hull.

To call it small would be an understatement.

Two cots were lining the port side of the ship and not more than ten feet on the starboard side was a small galley kitchen. Just beyond the bunks further towards the head of the ship she saw a door leading to what she assumed was a small refresher. Typically ships like this came equipped with a tiny shower stall, vac tube, and sink. Cee started to set her things on the first bunk but Porter snarled at her as he dropped his heavy bag down on the thin mattress, encouraging her to take the next one near the refresher.

“Leave her be, Porter,” Ezra warned sharply.

As he moved to the jump seats lining the wall next to the kitchen, Cee shot Porter a tense look and she set her bag down on the bunk before she followed him. She appreciated the fact that Ezra had strategically given her a seat next to the wall so that she wouldn't have to sit next to Porter. He would be damned if that crooked and vile man had any prolonged contact with her. The three passengers wordlessly strapped themselves in and braced for launch. A deafening roar filled their ears and then the entire hull shook mercilessly. Ezra’s eyes were clenched tightly and Cee wondered if it was because the sharp movements were causing him pain. She closed her eyes too, not because she was in pain, but because taking off had always frightened her.

When she was young, her father use to tell her horrible tales about ships and pods that weren’t checked right before launch. Their pilots had been hasty and careless and missed a loose tube or a leak. The result would be a fiery explosion on the launch pad. Once, he told her about a ship that had almost made it but once it hit the atmosphere it was torn to bits and the crew and passengers inside were flung out into the far reaches of space without their flight suits or helmets.Looking back on it now, Cee figured he was probably making up those stories just to scare her into completing pre-flight procedures correctly but a child’s mind is impressionable and the fear never left her. Her nails dug into the worn seat leather as they hit the atmosphere. This was always the worst part. The pressure and heat grew around them and it felt like the air had been squeezed out of her lungs as the roaring grew so loud surely she would go deaf. An indescribable need to grab onto Ezra’s hand filled her but she refrained. She wasn’t a child and she had to be strong and helpful to him.

As if escaping a tightly corked bottle, the pressure around the hull started to release as the ship entered space far beyond the reaches of the Central atmosphere and all three passengers let out a relieved sigh. Ezra was panting beside her but his breathing calmed as a gentle hum filled the air, signaling that they had entered deep space. The worst part was over and the passengers unbuckled their straps. Porter got up and immediately went to his bunk with a grunt. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with his traveling companions. Cee and Ezra moved to sit on the floor with their backs pressed up against the steel cabinets of the galley.

“Think you need some painkillers?” She asked gently.

“I’m set for the time being, Birdie. Just a few aches and pains, nothing too unbearable.” Cee nodded and glanced at his hand, watching as he flexed it like he was trying to get used to it. He caught her stare. “Why don’t we try getting the hang of this new-fangled appendage of mine. You heard the doctor. Practice makes perfect.”

“What do you want to do first?”

Ezra furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, feeling a little relieved that Cee was settling and distracted from how dire and hopeless their current situation was. “How about I practice writing? You’ve got some extra paper there, Birdie?”

Quickly reaching into her bag, she pulled out her notebook and flipped to a blank page before handing it to him along with her pencil. Ezra struggled to take it into his right hand comfortably and she gave him an encouraging look.

“It’s alright. I am in the understanding that this will take a bit of getting used to. Getting frustrated won’t help me,” he reassured. As he focused all of his energy into gripping the pencil correctly. His fingers felt clumsy and it fascinated Cee that something that was so delicately crafted, woven together, and fused with his nerves and flesh, would be so difficult to maneuver.

Ezra finally found his grip after an embarrassing amount of time and focused on guiding his hand to form the letters. He’d written his own name a million times. His mother believed that education would help him find a better life and so she’d taught him and his sister how to read and write at a young age. In his mind, he could picture him writing his name. He even added a little flourish on his “E” so it was more curved rather than angular but his hand would not obey. His movements weren’t graceful and it was as if his hand wasn’t connected to what his brain was telling him. Color burned in his cheeks and the tips of his ears as he heard Porter let out a cruel chuckle. He wasn’t one to feel insecure but this new arm was shaking his confidence. He didn’t feel complete despite having two appendages and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the frustration at not being able to complete a simple task that had come naturally to him for so many years.

With a frustrated sigh, he slapped the book closed. “We’ll try this again later, Cee. I’m pretty worn out.” He looked into her tired face. “And I know you are too. Why don’t you get some sleep.”

Cee shot a glance at Porter who was lying on his back chewing listlessly on a stim tablet and then to the empty bunk. “Where will you sleep?”

“Don’t worry about me none. You go on and get a little shut-eye. One of us unfortunates needs to keep an ear out for One in case he needs assistance.”

Guilt tugged at Cee but the tug of exhaustion was stronger. Reluctantly, she climbed onto the metal rack, thankful to be lying down for once. The only sleep she’d gotten since she and Ezra had escaped The Green was in an uncomfortable chair beside his hospital bed and now that she knew they were safe for the time being, a sense of peace and undeniable fatigue overtook her. Curling up under the rough, stale-smelling blanket, she closed her eyes and found herself drifting off into a dreamless slumber.

Ezra waited until his young ward was sound asleep before attempting to write his name. With determination, he picked up the discarded notebook and pencil, flipped to his page, and struggled to make his hand obey his brain’s command. It took a bit of maneuvering and concentration, but when he was finished he inspected his work. It looked like the work of a child but there was his name written out in shaky, askew letters. For just a moment, he felt a sense of pride. He’d accomplished something with his new hand.

“You’re gonna fail you know.” Ezra’s head shot up and he met eyes with Porter who was still laying on his back chewing stim tablets but now his head was turned to face the younger prospector. “You can’t do shit with that arm. Hell, you can’t even write your own damn name let alone harvest Auralac. You’re going to fail. You’re going to let your girl down, and I’m going to enjoy killing you both and leaving you as food for those savages living there before I take my share of the reward.”

Ezra scoffed. “Have you not been informed? It would appear that our employer isn’t too keen on sharing the spoils we bring back.”

Porter smirked and shook his head. “I wasn’t the one that got a fancy new arm. I still get my cut.”

Ezra looked at the offending appendage for a moment and clenched his fist. He and Cee were going to get absolutely nothing out of this. He didn’t care about himself as much. But this girl, this orphan that had been created by his own sinful hands didn’t deserve a single thing that was coming her way. And the worst of it was that all the hardship was because of him, right from the very start. Now she was being dragged along on a suicide mission back to a place that would surely bring nothing but nightmares and grief for her only to come back and be as penniless, homeless, and hungry as she was before. Ezra lowered his head for a moment and suppressed a sob. She deserved so much better than any life he could ever hope to give her.

His chest was throbbing and so was his arm but he wrapped his arms around his body and leaned his head back against the cabinet as he shut his eyes. He definitely could use one of those pain killers about now but he knew conserving them was the better option. He also hated how disconnected and spaced out they made him feel. That was one area Ezra was determined to be better for Cee in. Her father had been a drug addict and he refused to start down that road. She’d never given any indication that this was true but all the signs were there. Damon had all the signs of a drug addict; nervous tweaked-out movements. His hand had shook as he aimed his pistol at him. Ezra wondered if the man would have actually hit him with any accuracy until he pressed the muzzle of the pistol up against the glass of his helmet. No, he was not going to become a neglectful tweaker like Damon and make Cee suffer through the pain and loneliness of a neglectful parent. Hell, for all he knew, Cee didn’t even see him that way. He secretly hoped she didn’t because he couldn’t give her the life she should have; the life every child with loving and capable parents gave them. All she would ever get from him was sorrow and hardship.

*****************

A constant beeping assaulted his senses as Ezra drifted through strange dreams. He was trapped somewhere with thick dust and a sharp pain lancing straight through his heart. Cee was gone. There was only dust and the beeping that was ringing through his ears and hurting his head. He remembered this head-splitting pain somewhere else. It had been music then but it too had blasted his eardrums and split his skull wide open as it pounded behind his eyes. He opened his mouth to scream but the dust was choking him and forcing its way down his throat and into his lungs, infecting him, eating from the inside out. It was infecting his heart, rotting it away in his chest and he clawed desperately at it.

_“Ezra stop!”_

Cee’s voice cut through the beeping sharply and he opened his eyes just as she slid the needle of one of his syringes into his vein and pressed down the plunger. Every muscle in his body was tense for a moment before melting away and leaving his boneless body behind as a pleasant numbness washed over him. He rolled his head to look at her.

“Told you I didn’t need it,” he muttered tiredly.

“Yeah well your body was saying otherwise,” Cee tutted as she chucked the syringe in the trash and put the case back in her bag. The beeping from his dreams started up again but it was much more muted and Ezra realized it was coming from the cockpit.

One climbed down the ladder from his refuge above before Ezra could ask what the beeping was and dropped down the last few rungs into the hull. “A freighter is passing by and offered to take you three the rest of the way as long as they get a cut of the treasure when you come back.”

“Luxury freighters rarely fraternize with the likes of us, One,” Ezra grumbled.

“It would appear that this particular pilot is a little green.”

Ezra let out a tired chuckle. “Fancy our luck.”

Porter growled as he got to his feet. “You backing out on taking us to our destination?” He snarled as he reached for the gun on his hip.

“This freighter will get you to The Green much faster than I could,” One replied in his deadpan voice. “Besides, I don’t want to go all the way out to The Green.”

“Enough, Porter,” Ezra warned. “We’ll take this captain up on his most generous offer. He doesn’t have to know exactly how much we ravage from The Queen. We can give him as little as we desire and he’d be none the wiser.”

“I’ll radio him back,” One replied with a nod. “Prepared to attach in a minute.”

The two prospectors and the orphan watched the strange pilot climb back up the ladder and disappear before Porter turned have gave Ezra a snide look. “Now that’s the ruthless, conniving Ezra I remember. You think you’ve changed but you’re the same as you’ve always been.”

Ezra gritted his teeth as he pulled himself up to his feet with his good arm and moved back to the jump seats, ignoring the concerned look on Cee’s face as she did the same. Porter followed and by the time all three passengers had strapped themselves in the ship was shaking and clanging as it was being drawn into some unseen outside force. They would join this faster, sleeker transport and be well on their way to their destination within an hour. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope it was worth the wait. Y'alls support has been amazing and I appreciate all the reads, comments, and kudos. See you guys soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Let us know if we should continue. As always, rate and review!


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